One More Chance
by Christine Johnson
Summary: When Roy disobeys an order by saving and adopting a little girl, he finds that secrets are harder to keep than he thought. In addition, the higher ups want her dead. The time will come when Roy has to choose between his morals and his dream.
1. Adoption

Roy walked down the dark, musty stairs, his gun gripped low in his hands.

"Stay here Lieutenant," he ordered to the blonde soldier next to him. "Make sure no one comes in." Hawkeye hesitantly nodded.

"Yes, sir." She withdrew her steps, and soon the only sound in the staircase was that of the Colonel's boots, clicking against the marble stairs. He took a deep breath as he reached the gray door, and he could see the overhead light flickering through the small window. He unlocked his gun as he placed a hand on the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open with a squeak. He entered, the tip of his gun going first, but when he saw the scene, he slowly lowered his arms, his eyes wide.

Blood covered the walls and floor, making them seem as if they were painted with the color. Bodies of the scientists that worked there littered the ground, their faces frozen in their last minutes of fear. He walked around, his body tense and his breath ragged as he looked for the culprit. He spun around when he heard something clatter to the floor, ready to shoot, but once again he was taken by surprise.

"…my God…" he barely whispered.

Shaking in a ball in front of him was a girl who looked to be no more than ten years old. She was in a corner, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs, and dry blood covered her naked body.

Roy stared at her for a bit, his mouth gaping at the sight, but he soon came to his senses and took a step forward. He had to follow orders, he had to kill her.

"You there!" he yelled at her, his gun once again pointed at her. "Hey!" she jerked and continued to cry.

"I-I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry! Don't hurt me! Please! I didn't mean to!"

"There's no need to worry. You'll pay for your sins now." He wrapped his finger around the trigger, but continued to stare at the child as she continued to cry. He looked over her bare body, noting the scars and deep cuts that could be seen almost everywhere. _What the hell did they do to this kid?_ He thought in horror.

He was snapped out of his daze when she suddenly raised her head up to him. Big, green eyes emerged from black hair and tears were streaming down her face.

"P-please! I'm sorry! Don't hurt me anymore, I'm sorry!" The Colonel was surprised to find his hand shaking, and didn't know exactly what he was doing until it was too late. His gun was put away, and he slowly walked to her, his hands up so as to show there was nothing to hurt her.

"It's alright," he said in a slightly shaking voice. "I'm not going to hurt you." The small girl looked up at him, her eyes still shimmering with tears. "I promise," Roy added, kneeling in front of her. She stared at him, her arms hugging her legs tightly.

"Y-you're not going...to punish me?"

He shook his head with a slight smile. "What's your name?"

"Name? My name...my name is Ella."

"Ella...that's a pretty name...my name is Roy Mustang," he said with a smile, and held out a hand for her. "Come on, lets get you out of here." She looked at his hand and then hesitantly took it in hers. Roy pulled her up and placed his black coat around her before picking her up in his arms. "Don't worry Ella, it's going to be alright now." She nodded slowly, looking up at him and hugging his coat to her tightly as they went back up the dark staircase.

When he reached the top of the stairs he was greeted by a worried Hawkeye running to him, but before she could even open her mouth she was interrupted by the Colonel.

"It's alright Lieutenant," he said. "It's taken care of." She looked at the person in his arms as he passed her and started walking to their car.

"Colonel, is that…is that who they were talking about?"

"That's right. This is the one who was causing so much trouble."

"But how could she possib--she's just a girl…!" Roy turned to her with a slight smirk.

"Why Lieutenant, you hurt my feelings. Don't you recognize my new daughter?" Riza looked at him in shock for a bit, then closed her eyes and nodded.

"I understand, sir."

"Don't look so gloomy Lieutenant," he said as he placed Ella in the back seat of the car. "You know you could never be replaced." Hawkeye merely walked passed him with closed eyes and into the driver's seat.

"Should we take her to a hospital sir?"

"No," he replied as he got in. "Take us to my place. We can't afford anyone else seeing she's alive."

"Yes sir." Roy looked back at the now sleeping girl as Riza drove off.

"Ella, huh? Just _what _could the military want with a girl like you?" Hawkeye glanced at him, then smiled slightly.

"Ella Mustang is a nice name, sir," she said. He smirked.

"Yes Lieutenant. It most certainly is."


	2. Questions

"Sir?" Riza knocked on the door as she opened it, a pile of papers in her arms. She closed her eyes when she saw him, resting on his desk, his eyes closed and surrounded by papers. "Sir…Colonel Mustang!" She sighed and walked to him when he didn't respond. There was a loud bang that shot him up as she dropped the pile in front of him.

"Sleeping? Lieutenant don't be silly," he said quickly, only to receive another sigh from her.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist has returned from his mission," she said with closed eyes. He raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Well, send him in." She nodded and disappeared, only to be replaced by a small blonde haired boy, his hands in his pockets. "It's been a while Fullmetal, I assume you have something for me?" Roy held out his hand, and the boy put a piece of paper in it before collapsing back onto the couch.

There was an awkward silence as the Colonel read over the paper. Finally he leaned back in his chair and looked over at the kid out of the corner of his eyes.

"Well, you've certainly racked up quite the bill." Ed smirked and crossed his arms as he leaned back even more. Roy looked at him for a bit, and then glanced over it again. "Clothing, food, accommodations," he flipped the page. "Repairs…cat food?"

"We uh, adopted a cat for a bit," Ed replied, rubbing the back of his head. Roy sighed and placed the paper down on his desk.

"I didn't send you on a vacation Ed, and as you can see I'm very busy." He gestured to the piles of paperwork on his desk. "Now, you've been there for over two months, do you have something to report to me?"

"Yeah, yeah," Ed muttered, rolling his eyes. "Everything's just peachy in Lior. They have some rebuilding to do, but other then that there are no problems. If you don't count the low class criminals."

"Well, that explains the repairs then," Roy said with a sigh. Ed grinned.

"Yup!"

"Look Ed, the money we give you is _not_ for leisure sp—"

"Sir, you have a visitor," Riza interrupted with a smile, and before Roy could open his mouth to complain, a black haired, green eyed girl came running in.

"Papa!" she exclaimed, running passed a shocked Ed and into Roy's arms.

"Hey there kiddo," he said with a smile.

"_Papa_?" Ed exclaimed. "What the hell have _you_ been doing while I was away?!"

"Keep it down Ed," he replied, holding the girl in his lap now. "She isn't supposed to be here." Ella looked up at him as Ed blinked.

"I'm sorry Papa, I got bored…"

"It's alright for today Ella, don't worry. However, you can't just stroll in here when you get bored. Understand?" She nodded. He smiled at her and ruffled her hair, causing Ed's jaw to drop. Ella blinked and looked over at Ed, then sunk more into Roy. "Ella, this is Edward Elric."

"It's nice to meet you, uh…Ella," Ed said, snapping out of his daze. Ella nodded slowly, still staying as close to Roy as possible.

"Ella, I want you to go to Riza alright? I'll be home later." She pouted but nodded and jumped off his lap, skipping out the door. There was silence in the office, then,

"What the hell was that?! Where'd she come from?! Is that the result of some really old girlfrie--"

"I told you to keep your voice down, Fullmetal," Roy interrupted as he stood and went to the window, his hands laced behind his back. "Truth is, she isn't even supposed to be alive." Ed's shocked expression faded into a serious frown.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know much about her background, but the information I got was that she was causing trouble down in the labs. Why she was there, or what she was doing, I'm not sure…but in any case, I was ordered to kill her. As you can see, I failed to do that."

"Wait a minute, _you_ disobeyed an order?" Roy sighed and closed his eyes.

"Get serious Ed. There is obviously something wrong."

"Yeah, yeah. Like, why the hell a girl like her was in a place like this." Roy looked at him through the reflection of the window.

"And why she was kept secret. What could the Higher Ups be thi--" he turned when the door opened.

"Sir," Riza said, her hand on the doorknob. "The flowers were just dropped off." He nodded, and she closed the door quietly. Roy looked at Ed.

"Ella's at home," he said, after seeing the confused look on the young Alchemist's face.

"Right…" Ed stood and stretched. "Well, we'll figure out what's going on. Anything else?"

"Perhaps," he said, returning to his desk and sitting down in his chair.

"What's that mean?"

"Go get some rest Ed," he replied, picking up a few papers from the piles. "We'll talk later." Ed stared at him for a bit, opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself and nodded instead, seeing the Colonel was already hard at work. He left the office quietly and yawned. _Guess the old man can have a heart,_ he thought with his hands behind his head. _Ah well, I could use a break anyway. _He grinned, and went to go meet his brother.

"Sorry that took so long Al," he said with a grin, coming down the stairs.

"That's alright brother," the boy replied with a smile, standing. "What did he say?"

"Not much, but he did give us a break." Al's face lit up.

"That's great!"

"Yeah," he blinked when a drop of water fell on his face, then another. "Come on, lets hurry."

"Right." They ran to the shelter of an awning as the rain began to fall harder.

Roy glanced out the window at the steady sound of raindrops.

"…" he sighed. "I hate the rain."


	3. Thoughts

**(A/N: Sorry for the late update…lots have things have been going on and it seems my muse left me for a bit! But it's back, and here is the new chapter! Sorry it's a bit short…thanks to anyone who reviewd!)**

"Papa! Papa! Mama says to get up!" Ella cried, shaking a sleeping Roy. He groaned when the shaking got worse and slowly sat up, rubbing his face with his hands.

"I'm up, I'm up…" he muttered groggily and glanced at the clock. "Eleven already? I really slept in late…"

"Uh huh!" the girl cried. "But Mama said I should wake you. She said you've slept enough!"

"So I have," he muttered, the tone of sleep still in his voice. "I'll be down in a bit." Ella nodded and left the room. Roy looked after her, his arms resting on his legs and his body leaning forward. His eyes stared intently at the knob of the door, though he didn't see it.

It was all so mysterious…How long had that lab been there? How long did they torture that girl? What did they use her for, and why had it been going on right under his nose? These questions plagued the Colonel—the only thing he could really think of now a days.

"Papa!" the young voice cried again, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Coming!" he replied, standing up and grabbing some clean clothes from a drawer, once again having fallen asleep without changing. "Really, there's no point to buying pajamas if I don't even use them…" he muttered as he walked down the stairs, buttoning his shirt.

"Good morning Colonel." He looked up at his Lieutenant and smiled slightly.

"We're not at work Hawkeye, you can drop the formalities." She returned the smile.

"I took the courtesy of making breakfast. Your daughter was hungry." Ella grinned up at Roy as Riza put a plate of pancakes in front of her.

"Yes, I can imagine…thank you." She nodded as she poured him a mug of coffee and handed it to him. He took it graciously as he sat with a sigh.

"Another late night?" she asked, taking the seat across from him. Ella ate the pancakes happily in between them, her legs dangling and kicking under the table.

"Let's just say I'll be living at the office soon," Roy replied.

"That may become a reality, what with the amount of reports you've been receiving." He sighed dramatically.

"That's what happens when you send everyone out on a mission at once…" He looked at the steaming cup in his hands, and there was a silence between them, the only sound was the scraping of metal on metal from Ella's fork and plate. "How's the situation in the West?" he finally asked quietly, glancing back across him.

"If things don't settle down we'll be interfering soon. Or, that's the rumor going around at least."

"Rumor? There's no such thing Hawkeye." he stood, and Ella looked at him with a satisfied smile, having finished her meal. He took her plate and walked to the sink. "When it comes to a situation like this, rumors are just the Higher Up's ways of telling you to be prepared." He tossed the plate and mug into the sink and left the room with his hand in his pocket. Riza closed her eyes as Ella blinked and looked after him.

"Got some more paperwork coming your way Colonel," Havoc said, placing the pile gently down on the already cluttered desk.

"Thank you," Mustang replied curtly without even glancing at him, a piece of paper in his hand.

"What's this? No complaints? That's a first!" he said with a laugh, but it was soon silenced with a narrow eyed glance from Roy. Havoc's smile faded and he put his hands up in surrender. "I was just kidding around sir, sorry." He gulped as the higher officer's gaze still pierced him, and it was only after what seemed like hours that the Colonel returned to his paperwork.

Havoc left quickly and closed the door with a relieved sigh as he leaned against it. "Sheesh, what's got him so wound up?" he muttered.

"Havoc!" He winced when he heard his name being called from the other side of the door. He quickly opened it and stepped in.

"Sir?"

"Tell Fullmetal to come here immediately." Roy looked at him out of the corner of his eyes. "He has a new mission."


End file.
